Switch from an unpside down Akira-Class to a modernised Daedalus-Class. Keep the sets, phase cannons, uniforms and all the props. Have deflector shields but drop the photonic torpedoes.

Oh and shift it forward ten years, just after the Romulan Wars and the formation of the Federation. Then include more aliens on the crew, with all the founding races having an equal number of personnel onboard.

I'm saving Soval and casting him as the First Officer. The Captain is OF COURSE Erika Hernandez. She wasn't in the pilot so she gets treated as a new, recast character played by the same actor. She is super competent and comes to rely heavily on Soval, though she ribs him a bit. Soval is the wryest Vulcan we've seen in Trek and soon we realize he does have an agenda that is being withheld from us and the Captain. Is it merely Vulcan government orders or the bidding of the V'shar? Or is something more personal at stake?

The Science officer is played by David Hewlett. He is crushing badly on Captain Hernandez but he is also incredibly excited and excitable about all the NEW sciency stuff that is out there and that is his focus. He loves science, he's not scared of the unknown, he is full of boyish joy.

I introduce an aggressive new organization named Starforce to compete with the NASA-like Starfleet. Starforce is about to launch its own Warp-5 ship and Enterprise has to establish itself as a credible player before that happens.

Everything would have been redesigned from the ground up. Where TOS was ostensibly 60's, I would have taken a 1950's influence. The Enterprise would have resembled a 1950's rocket ship, there would be flying saucers and big bug-eyed aliens and sentient blobs in space.

I would do away with all the boring stuff (ie. UFP, Starfleet, politics etc) and focus primarily on a ship in the middle of nowhere encountering weird stuff. It would be lighter in tone and made more accessible by abandoning any season long story-arcs. I would embrace the reset button but not in regards to character evolution.

Tonally, it would be similar to nu-Doctor Who, Sherlock, Firely etc. Smart scripts and stories not afraid to take risks.

I'd keep Scott Bakula as he was the only cast member with any on screen chemistry with those around him.

It would be a spectacular failure of course, but would hopefully be remembered fondly.

I'd keep Malcolm as well, at time she seemed like the only sane man onbaord the ship. I might also go back a bit earlier, still have the Warp 5 ship, dial back the Vulcans holding Earth back, and maybe have Starfleet just a few years old with some conflict driven from the more science minded Captain and more military minded XO Malcolm. So we see Starfleet trying to find the balance between peacful exploration and keeping Earth and it's colonies safe. No T'Pol if we have to have an alien character they are an oberserver only, they aren't in the command chain.

If we're doing handwaving, why the specific rules of who can and can't be "saved?" Let people float their ideas without playing thought police.

I gotta agree with teacake about Erika Hernandez. She would've been an interesting character and after reading the Destiny novels, she would've brought a new style of command to the franchise(though I guess if you couple incompetent as a style, so did Archer), and was an interesting character in her own rights, well balanced and grounded with enough idealism to make for some future plot arcs.

While at first the design of the NX-01 itself irked me, but let's face it... they weren't going to by with a boxy Daedalus-class knockoff. They wanted something that would look cool, and a series centered on an ugly ship doesn't help a foundation that was shaky to begin with.

Though a series with a mixed crew from the allied worlds would be interesting. Sort of like a UNesque command of several militaries. The ship being developed and built by all the allied worlds, on a mission of exploration to benefit them all, even while each representative world maintains it's independence and their own fleets. That would allow for an Earth like style that's different from the Federation style. Plus all the dramas and conflicts between the allied worlds would play themselves out on that ship with political posturing of who gets what positions, the alliances agreeing on a different captain mid way through and things like that.

Science Officer Dev Patel
Engineer Morgan Freeman
Captain Natalie Portman (going with almost a Kirk vibe of being young and over her head but rushed up the ranks because she's got the it factor)
Pilot hmm let's go with a Vulcan here 'cause we haven't had a Vulcan here yet, have we?
Comms maybe a Tellarite
Doctor Michael Caine

Everything would have been redesigned from the ground up. Where TOS was ostensibly 60's, I would have taken a 1950's influence. The Enterprise would have resembled a 1950's rocket ship, there would be flying saucers and big bug-eyed aliens and sentient blobs in space.

I would do away with all the boring stuff (ie. UFP, Starfleet, politics etc) and focus primarily on a ship in the middle of nowhere encountering weird stuff. It would be lighter in tone and made more accessible by abandoning any season long story-arcs. I would embrace the reset button but not in regards to character evolution.

Tonally, it would be similar to nu-Doctor Who, Sherlock, Firely etc. Smart scripts and stories not afraid to take risks.

I'd keep Scott Bakula as he was the only cast member with any on screen chemistry with those around him.

It would be a spectacular failure of course, but would hopefully be remembered fondly.

Everything would have been redesigned from the ground up. Where TOS was ostensibly 60's, I would have taken a 1950's influence. The Enterprise would have resembled a 1950's rocket ship, there would be flying saucers and big bug-eyed aliens and sentient blobs in space.

I would do away with all the boring stuff (ie. UFP, Starfleet, politics etc) and focus primarily on a ship in the middle of nowhere encountering weird stuff. It would be lighter in tone and made more accessible by abandoning any season long story-arcs. I would embrace the reset button but not in regards to character evolution.

Tonally, it would be similar to nu-Doctor Who, Sherlock, Firely etc. Smart scripts and stories not afraid to take risks.

I'd keep Scott Bakula as he was the only cast member with any on screen chemistry with those around him.

It would be a spectacular failure of course, but would hopefully be remembered fondly.

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Oh, I'd watch that. I love all your ideas.

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Would have been a big change from contemporary science fiction (TOS was ostensibly 60s, well, because it was made in the 60s) to commentary/parody/homage/mockery of past science fiction eras.

Oh and shift it forward ten years, just after the Romulan Wars and the formation of the Federation.

Click to expand...

I'd go the other direction multiple decades. Consider this change, the warp drive is like the jet engine. First used on aircraft in 1939, three decades later they are everywhere. Military, commercial and private.

It's the same way with the warp drive (first flight 2063), by the year 2090 Humanity is exploding outward from Earth, very haphazard, colonies, trade with aliens, private exploration. A lot of alien toes are getting stepped on, the surrounding civilizations have never seen expansion like this before. And pirates are hitting Human ships.

Starfleet is formed in 2110 to attempt to bring order to this building chaos.

Not a universally popular idea with all Humans. Some members nations of United Earth have already formed their own armed fleets to protect their colonies and trade corridors. The New United Nations has a small armed fleet. As do some private corporations.